Treatment with antibiotics

Duration of treatment

When taking antibiotics, it is important to ensure that the therapy is not stopped early. Most of the antibiotic treatments are carried out on an outpatient basis.
It often happens that the symptoms subside after just a few days. There is a risk that patients will no longer take the medicine. Guidelines speak of a therapy duration between 7 and 21 days, depending on the disease, the pathogen and the preparation.
If a patient stops taking the medication early, there is a risk that germs that have not yet been killed will multiply quickly and lead to a renewed infection, which will then respond more poorly to the drug.
At the moment, however, studies are also underway to investigate whether the duration of antibiotic therapy should generally be shortened in order to reduce the corresponding resistance.

Calculated antibiotic therapy

Antibiotics are given without knowing the pathogen, especially in outpatient settings.
Based on the symptoms and statistical experience, the doctor makes assumptions about the type of germ and selects an antibiotic. He usually takes a preparation that is effective against the broadest possible spectrum of germs. The hit probability is therefore quite high.
In Emergency situations, such as. an advanced one Pneumonia or the suspicion of one Meningitis Immediate therapy is initiated in the outpatient and inpatient area if suspected. Here, too, the exact pathogen is initially unknown. However, the emergency situation requires action as quickly as possible.
One speaks of one calculated antibiotic therapy. In the further course, a blood culture is created and a so-called antibiogram is created. This is a list of the germs found, with possible effective antibiotics.
Only when a Antibiogram is available, targeted antibiotic therapy with direct germ treatment can be started. If the germ does not respond to the administration of a broad-spectrum antibiotic in the outpatient area, an exact germ determination should also be carried out.